The present invention relates to towing and deployment mechanisms for expendable payloads, and more particularly, to an expendable towing and deployment mechanism for use with a towed aerobody that provides for launching and controlled tow line payout between the towed aerobody and a towing vehicle.
The closest prior art to the present invention is used in the existing ALE-50 towed decoy, currently in the inventory of the U.S. Armed Forces. The ALE-50 system is comprised of a decoy, a canister and a reel/payout mechanism. The ALE-50 system uses three copper wires to act as a data link between the decoy and a host aircraft that tows the decoy. The ALE-50 system uses a rotating reel with mechanical braking and electrical sliprings for the data link. The ALE-50 system has a rotating tow line reel which uses the sliprings to bridge the rotating electrical coupling between the stationary canister and the rotating reel. As a result of using the rotating reel, a conventional mechanical braking system must be used which adds weight, increases the complexity of the system and reduces the space available for tow line storage. In addition, the design of this system precludes the use of a continuous fiber optic tow line.
Therefore it is an objective of the present invention to provide for an improved towing and deployment mechanism for a towed aerobody that provides the ability to use a fiber optic tow line, and provides for varying deployment regulation mechanisms.